Resendez is not charged with a crime, but investigators allege in an affidavit that he paid employees inside San Antonio auto title companies to register vehicles for Webb County residents.

Webb County Tax Assessor-Collector Patricia Barrera said she could give details of the case, but “it has to do with motor vehicles and what we believe is illegal registration taking place in San Antonio when it should be done in Laredo. We believe that monies that should have been going to the state and Webb County have not reached us.”

Resendez could not be reached for comment Thursday.

When Texas residents make a private auto purchase, it's up to them to pay a 6.25 percent sales tax to their county tax assessor, according to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.

In Bexar County, private companies have contracts with the tax assessor-collector to process title applications.

Investigators said Resendez would take his customers' money and submit to his contacts in San Antonio fraudulent paperwork that reported a reduced sale price, “which resulted in loss of tax revenue for the state of Texas.”

One of Resendez's employees told investigators he would give title applications and envelopes of cash to an employee of San Antonio Auto Title Services.

The owners of San Antonio Auto Title could not be reached for comment Thursday.

When his contact there got fired, Resendez started using an employee at River City Auto Title, according to the affidavit.

River City Auto Title owner Tom Menchaca said he had not been contacted by law enforcement officials and said his company hasn't done anything wrong.

Even if fraudulent applications were to somehow make it through the screening process at the title company, Menchaca said, they should have been caught at the tax assessor-collector's office.

“When we turn the paperwork in to the county, they check it,” he said. “They check our work before they send it off to Austin, and if there's anything that looks crossways, they reject it. If there's anything that we were doing wrong, they would catch it.”

David DeLeon, Bexar County's director of motor vehicle registration, said tax assessor-collector employees randomly check title applications, but can't go through all the applications that come in from title companies before forwarding them to the state.

Under the previous administration, the office's chief investigator had been in contact with Webb County about a fraud investigation, DeLeon said, but the investigator has since left and he doesn't know what came of it.

“If this office finds out about any kind of illegal activity that's going on, we will act quickly and decisively,” said Bexar County Tax Assessor-collector Albert Uresti.